Ika Makimaki
I think about this a lot.
9:15amWeb
Show threadLeonard Ritter4h ago

@pezmico it is not enough to recognize but one must also stop this mind virus* from propagating. the core counterargument is: there is more than enough space for twice more people as we are today. all it requires is a reduction in waste production, and there are so many blatantly optimizable avenues here. as long as states refuse to cooperate even on the bare humane minimum to stop global warming, we don't need to discuss killing people.

* as in "meme"; see ff discussion

Show threadLeonard Ritter4h ago
@pezmico or, even better put as i have once heard a character say this in fiction: "you just want to kill people. you can't wait to do it."
Show threadCaro S.4h ago

@lritter I agree with you, but want to point out how pervasive eugenic thinking is in a lot of us, unwillingly and unconsciously. You respond to a warning about eugenics with the right-wing eugenic "mind virus" while there are very good words like e.g. "ideology." And I'm sorry to say, words do matter in fighting supremacist and eugenic thinking.

@pezmico

Show threadLeonard Ritter4h ago

@Heidentweet @pezmico ideology is not a good word either. nothing is good words because the fuckers (there's a good word) take whatever verbiage intellectuals like us come up with and misappropriate it to attack the ideas that we hold dear.

in german parliament, putin's far right party frequently uses the word "ideology" to describe the fight against global warming.

nothing is good words and yet we need to speak.

Show threadsea4h ago

@lritter @Heidentweet @pezmico "Mind virus" is problematic specifically because it relies on the idea of sickness as making people "bad." Viruses do not make people into Nazis. Being sick makes you less privileged and more in danger, sick people are othered by society which prevents them from accessing help. One of the ways that we other sickness is by correlating sickness with things like right-wing ideologies.

This is not about how right-wing pundits learn the vocabulary of leftists and weaponize it. This is about ableism.

Show threadLeonard Ritter4h ago
@s3a @Heidentweet @pezmico you misunderstand. this is more like a computer virus. but yes. do not use the term "mind virus". i used a more popular interpretation of the idea of memes. but meme is also burned. we'll have that discussion every other week. best is we use no term for longer than 3 days.
Show threadsea4h ago
@lritter @Heidentweet @pezmico I don't misunderstand. Your words have impact beyond your intent and you are being informed of that harmful impact. You're welcome to keep using the harmful words you've chosen to use, but you will be doing so knowing you are participating in the very harms you're trying to rail against going forward.
Show threadLeonard Ritter4h ago
@s3a @Heidentweet @pezmico got it. thank you for educating me.
Show threadnot ch1c4h ago
@pezmico any argument made by white people that focuses on “overpopulation” is suspect
Show threadbeemudd4h ago

@pezmico

Already saw this with Covid. All these leftists talking about the revolution and not a mask in sight in most cases.
Everyone is a eugenicist in the same way everyone is racist.

Show threadMelvin Gundlach3h ago
@pezmico It's the exact same ideology we already hear with COVID.
Show threadJohn Maxwell3h ago

@pezmico The amazing thing to me in that mindset is their absolute certainty that they will survive.

Grant (solely for the purpose of illustration) every bit of their shitty attitude, you'd still have to be very stupid to be certain you'd survive.

Show threadCersei Trannister1h ago
@pezmico This theory fits with conservative goals now
Show threadInfrogmation1h ago

@pezmico

Hi from New Orleans, aware this was already happening in 2005.

#NewOrleans

Show threadNol Malone ☭1h ago
@pezmico Exactly. We do not have a population problem, we have a capitalism problem. Mao was right. The wealthy would rather kill everyone than let go of their wealth. We fight their greed, or they kill everyone. It's that simple.
Show threadMatt McIrvin1h ago
@pezmico this kind of thinking was big among ostensibly environmentalist writers in the 60s and 70s when the big worry was overpopulation. At the time, of course, most of the less developed world had very high birthrates so it conveniently put the onus on poor countries, not rich ones. There was a lot of ugly just under the surface.
Show threadBoneHouseWasps🔶🇬🇧🇪🇺1h ago
@pezmico It's why Trump's backers want Denmark and Canada - they need somewhere to go to escape the poors.
Show threadPasswordsarehard430m ago
@pezmico scarcity forces people to actually examine who they consider in thier group. Some consider all life on earth as one group, David Attenborough I would imagine is amoung them. Some only consider humans, Bill Gates eliminating polio from his group. Sometimes the group is smaller, some people feel like taking care of themselves trumps everything and everyone else. It’s how people treat those outsiders that tell you who they are, not those closest to them.